Philippine Folk-Tales eBook

This in turn made the young man angry, and he determined
to have revenge. He took a strong rope and attached
it to one of the corner upright posts of the house,
and waiting till it was dark and still inside, he
hid behind a tree and began to pull the rope, alternately
hauling and slacking.

“Oh!” said one of the girls, “there
is an earthquake.” [18]

The old man jumped up and, seizing his crucifix, began
to recite the prayers against earthquakes. But
the trembling kept up. For more than an hour
the old man prayed to all the saints in the calendar,
but the earthquake still shook the house.

Then the earthquake stopped a moment, and a voice
called him to come outside. His daughters begged
him not to go, for said they, “You never can
stand such a terrible earthquake.” Taking
his saw, his axe, and his long bolo, the old man went
down, only to find everything quiet outside.
He began to explore the surroundings of the house
to see if he could find the cause of the disturbance,
and fell over the rope. With that he began to
curse and swear, saying, “May lightning blast
the one of ill-omened ancestry who has shaken my house,
frightened my family, and broken my bones,” and
many other harsh things, but he got no answer but
a laugh, and the young man had his revenge.

CHAPTER 18

The Queen and the Aeta Woman.

There was once a king who was sick unto death.
Though he was already married to a beautiful and charming
woman, he promised to marry any woman who could save
his life or recall him after death. Then he died
and after his death the queen was superintending the
preparations for burial and getting ready the collation
for the mourners. While she was busy, an Aeta
(Negrito) woman, black, ill-favored, dirty, and smelling
like a goat went into the room. Kneeling by the
body, she began pulling out pins from the flesh, and
soon the king awoke, but his mind was lost. He
clasped the Aeta woman to him and showered on her
terms of endearment, thinking that she was the queen,
while all the time the real queen was without.

Seeing how matters stood, the Aeta woman called the
queen, “Maria, Maria, bring food for the king,”
and she forced the queen to obey her and work as a
slave in the kitchen, while she wore the queen’s
robes and lay on the queen’s couch. Of course
this made a scandal, but no one could interfere until
at last a soldier passed through the kitchen and seeing
the queen’s face red with the fire and noting
her beauty, he called the king’s attention to
her. Then the king remembered Maria and that
she was the real queen, and that the other was only
a hideous Aeta usurper, and he had the Aeta woman
tied in a sack with stones and thrown into the sea.